166 
THE POULTRY BOOK. 
closely approximating in general conformation to that of the pheasant, hut not so 
lengthy ; and the bodily size was far superior to that of the hen producing them. 
The colours of the plumage in all cases (one excepted) were likewise excessively 
darker than that of the variety of hen from which they were produced ; whilst 
their general contour, as a whole, inclined most entirely to that of the pheasant. — 
The hybrid produced between the pheasant and the Spanish hen was bred by Mr. 
Keeling, of Vauxhall, Birmingham, and proved, when adult, entirely black, but of 
a dull sooty hue ; the eyes were yellow. The weight of this bird was nearly seven 
pounds ; and it therefore, to the eye, presented an appearance nearly as large as 
that of the curassow. Around the eye, and more particularly on the face beneath 
it, the velvety character peculiar to the pheasant itself was well developed. In the 
hybrid produced from a black-breasted red game hen, the scapular feathers were 
marked with nearly as much regularity as in the male parent, as Vv^ere also those 
on the breast ; but the gTound colour was so extremely dark (resembling wetted 
cinnamon), that none of these markings were visible, unless a powerful light rested 
on the bird’s plumage. The neck was iridescent black, brightly glossed with 
green. This specimen possessed a perfectly plain face, feathered up closely to the 
eyelid ; the eyes being deep hazel. This bird, which was in my own possession, 
was very large, and weighed somewhat more than six and a half pounds. — The 
specimen resulting from the cross between the cock pheasant and a Buff Bantam 
was bred by the gamekeeper at Chirk Castle, Denbighshire. It was very nearly as 
dark-coloured as the one last described ; but in patches it was irregularly tortoise- 
shelled, and was really a handsome bird, in size fully equal to a Malay hen. Al- 
though the neck and head were dark as a pheasant’s, the face bore a strong 
resemblance to white Genoa velvet, a singularity which caused it to be greatly 
admired. The eyes were yellow. The offspring of the Golden- spangled Hamburgh 
hen and cock pheasant was a bird black in the ground-colour, the tips of the 
shoulder and crop feathers slightly laced with very deep brown ; the tail being 
slightly barred. The whole bird did not, at two years old, possess one single 
spangle, although the mother was a very perfect mooned bird. The hybrid was the 
property of a friend at Wolverhampton, who, on account of its indomitable wild- 
ness, objected to its being caught for the purpose of weighing; therefore, my 
description of size must be confined to the fact that it appeared fully twice as large 
as the mother hen. The last of these hybrids that I shall describe was produced 
from a really superior Silver- spangled Hamburgh hen. It was bred by Mr. Watson, 
of Birmingham, and was the most attractive in its plumage of any I ever yet met 
with. The ground-colour was silvery white, the markings of an irregular but 
most curious close pencilling, the wing-feathers and tail being deeply barred ; the 
face was flesh-colour, without even the vestige of feathers of any kind ; the eyes 
v/ere as purely white as those of a grey parrot. This gave the bird a somewhat 
sickly look (that was unpleasingly suggestive of poultry when long diseased, and 
the florid hues have left them pale and emaciated) ; still, the defect proved only an 
eyesore, for the hybrid was unquestionably in good condition, strong, and heart- 
